49 research outputs found
Current-induced vortex dynamics in Josephson-junction arrays: Imaging experiments and model simulations
We study the dynamics of current-biased Josephson-junction arrays with a
magnetic penetration depth smaller than the lattice spacing. We compare the
dynamics imaged by low-temperature scanning electron microscopy to the vortex
dynamics obtained from model calculations based on the resistively-shunted
junction model, in combination with Maxwell's equations. We find three bias
current regions with fundamentally different array dynamics. The first region
is the subcritical region, i.e. below the array critical current I_c. The
second, for currents I above I_c, is a "vortex region", in which the response
is determined by the vortex degrees of freedom. In this region, the dynamics is
characterized by spatial domains where vortices and antivortices move across
the array in opposite directions in adjacent rows and by transverse voltage
fluctuations. In the third, for still higher currents, the dynamics is
dominated by coherent-phase motion, and the current-voltage characteristics are
linear.Comment: 10 pages, with eps figures. To appear in Phys. Rev.
Magnetic Field Effect in a Two-dimensional Array of Short Josephson Junctions
We study analytically the effect of a constant magnetic field on the dynamics
of a two dimensional Josephson array. The magnetic field induces spatially
dependent states and coupling between rows, even in the absence of an external
load. Numerical simulations support these conclusions
Broken symmetry of row switching in 2D Josephson junction arrays
We present an experimental and theoretical study of row switching in
two-dimensional Josephson junction arrays. We have observed novel dynamic
states with peculiar percolative patterns of the voltage drop inside the
arrays. These states were directly visualized using laser scanning microscopy
and manifested by fine branching in the current-voltage characteristics of the
arrays. Numerical simulations show that such percolative patterns have an
intrinsic origin and occur independently of positional disorder. We argue that
the appearance of these dynamic states is due to the presence of various
metastable superconducting states in arrays.Comment: 4 Pages, 6 Figure
Full capacitance-matrix effects in driven Josephson-junction arrays
We study the dynamic response to external currents of periodic arrays of
Josephson junctions, in a resistively capacitively shunted junction (RCSJ)
model, including full capacitance-matrix effects}. We define and study three
different models of the capacitance matrix : Model A
includes only mutual capacitances; Model B includes mutual and self
capacitances, leading to exponential screening of the electrostatic fields;
Model C includes a dense matrix that is constructed
approximately from superposition of an exact analytic solution for the
capacitance between two disks of finite radius and thickness. In the latter
case the electrostatic fields decay algebraically. For comparison, we have also
evaluated the full capacitance matrix using the MIT fastcap algorithm, good for
small lattices, as well as a corresponding continuum effective-medium analytic
evaluation of a finite voltage disk inside a zero-potential plane. In all cases
the effective decays algebraically with distance, with
different powers. We have then calculated current voltage characteristics for
DC+AC currents for all models. We find that there are novel giant capacitive
fractional steps in the I-V's for Models B and C, strongly dependent on the
amount of screening involved. We find that these fractional steps are quantized
in units inversely proportional to the lattice sizes and depend on the
properties of . We also show that the capacitive steps
are not related to vortex oscillations but to localized screened phase-locking
of a few rows in the lattice. The possible experimental relevance of these
results is also discussed.Comment: 12 pages 18 Postscript figures, REVTEX style. Paper to appear in July
1, Vol. 58, Phys. Rev. B 1998 All PS figures include
Superinsulator Phase of Two-Dimensional Superconductors
Using path-integral Quantum Monte Carlo we study the low-temperature phase
diagram of a two-dimensional superconductor within a phenomenological model,
where vortices have a finite mass and move in a dissipative environment modeled
by a Caldeira-Leggett term. The quantum vortex liquid at high magnetic fields
exhibits superfluidity and thus corresponds to a {\em superinsulating} phase
which is characterized by a nonlinear voltage-current law for an infinite
system in the absence of pinning. This superinsulating phase is shifted to
higher magnetic fields in the presence of dissipation.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. Lett. (Oktober 1998
Theory of charge transport in diffusive normal metal / conventional superconductor point contacts
Tunneling conductance in diffusive normal metal / insulator / s-wave
superconductor (DN/I/S) junctions is calculated for various situations by
changing the magnitudes of the resistance and Thouless energy in DN and the
transparency of the insulating barrier. The generalized boundary condition
introduced by Yu. Nazarov [Superlattices and Microstructures 25 1221 (1999)] is
applied, where the ballistic theory by Blonder Tinkham and Klapwijk (BTK) and
the diffusive theory by Volkov Zaitsev and Klapwijk based on the boundary
condition of Kupriyanov and Lukichev (KL) are naturally reproduced. It is shown
that the proximity effect can enhance (reduce) the tunneling conductance for
junctions with a low (high) transparency. A wide variety of dependencies of
tunneling conductance on voltage bias is demonstrated including a -shaped
gap like structure, a zero bias conductance peak (ZBCP) and a zero bias
conductance dip (ZBCD)